This disclosure generally relates to hearing aids and hearing aid systems for compensation of hearing impairment of a user. Hearing aids and hearing aid systems may utilize a variety of transducers for converting ambient sound to a signal perceivable by the user as sound.
For example, hearing aids and hearing aid systems may include output transducers such as loudspeakers (sometimes referred to as receivers within the hearing aid business), which loudspeakers convert a processed version of the ambient sound to an acoustic signal hearable to the user. The processed version of the ambient sound is communicated to the ear canal of the user causing the user's tympanic member picking up the processed sound.
Other hearing aids and hearing aid systems may include output transducers such as electrodes (cochlea implants), which are implanted into the user's cochlea and which convert a processed and coded version of the ambient sound to an electric signal stimulating hair cells of the cochlea.
Still other hearing aids and hearing aid systems may include output transducers such as vibrators, which may be anchored to a user's skull bone by means of an implant and which convert a processed version of the ambient sound to a mechanical vibration stimulating the cochlea through mechanical vibrations communicated through the skull bone to the cochlea.